Tim Nikias wrote:
> 
> I'm not sure if this belongs into "general" questions,
> but its not advanced-users-pov-stuff either, and
> not purely off-topc for POV...
> 
> I've been hearing a lot about Forward Euler,
> Implicit Euler, Runge-Kutta, second- and
> third-order terms and what not.
> 
> I have no clue what all those are. 
> [...]

To understand it you need some background information about differential
equations and numerical mathematics.  You probably could use such
algorithms without knowing the whole math behind, but for understanding
some knowledge is definitely required.  Any general book about higher
mathematics should contain a bit on that matter but there are also a lot
more specialized books too.

Some links from searching on google for runge kutta:

http://nacphy.physics.orst.edu/ComPhys/DIFFEQ/mydif2/node1.html
http://www.sst.ph.ic.ac.uk/angus/Lectures/compphys/node2.html
http://www.learn-line.nrw.de/angebote/modell/runge.htm
http://www.myphysicslab.com/what_diff_eq.html

Christoph


-- 
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